Home Staging…I’m a Believer by Amy Curtis

I’ve had a conversion of sorts. Nothing road to Damascus like, nothing quite that dramatic or life changing, but a conversion nonetheless. A conversion that does have an impact on the work that I do in helping clients sell their homes.

It’s home staging. I’m a recent home staging convert. A new believer.

Home staging has been around for years. Statistics show that staged homes sell quicker and for more money than homes that are not staged. A quick google search provides an avalanche of statistics, information and evidence of the benefits of home staging, and yet, I remained unconvinced. I remained uncompelled to embrace home staging and incorporate it into my services to sellers.

Why? How could this be?

I’d always thought there was something a little disingenuous about “staging” a home. The connotation of the word…stage…as in “stage” a play, or “stage” a crime. Stage is a performance, it’s not real life, it’s not the real thing. Something about the sound of it always made me think of it as an attempt to pull the wool over a buyer’s eyes, and the idea of that just never sat well with me.

And too, “staging” sounds like a big production, a big expensive production and who wants to get involved in that? When someone has decided to sell their home, they’re kind of done with their house. If there’s time and money to be spent, most sellers would rather spend it on the next house, the new house, not the house they’re trying to get rid of. So, staging as a production just never made sense to me either.

But I’ve changed my mind, I’m a believer.

It’s happened gradually and over time. It’s happened because of the homes I’ve seen and sold. It’s happened because of the homes I’ve seen that never seem to sell. It’s happened because I’ve found a really good home stager. It’s happened because I’ve seen up close and in person the difference staging can make.

In practice, staging needn’t be a big production. In practice, there is no pulling the wool over the buyers eyes. Home staging is simply the last important step in preparing a home for the market, because staging is the process through which a house is separated from its seller and introduced to its new owner. The “staged” home is a home in the midst of its “conversion.” A staged home allows the buyer to become a “believer” that they’ve found their just right for them home.

Welcome to the fold Amy! Great testimony & like you many take a while to come to “believe”. I could never do my job (I am a home stager =) if I didn’t know first hand the power and benefits of marketing a home with staging. My degree is in marketing and when I first found out about this business I was sold before I even started because it validated what I had already been doing for years for friends, family & even myself. In 2001 I staged my own home (didn’t know that’s what I was even doing or if there was a name for it) but it sold to the 1st buyer who saw it for full price & they even agreed to allow us stay an extra month because I wasn’t ready to move so fast! Fast forward to 2006 & I started my business in Plano, TX. It’s taken awhile to “convince” area sellers & Realtors to become believers and it’s one of the reasons I continue to teach and educate on the subject at my local College (CE offering) as well as offices around the area. An educated client in my opinion is the BEST! Thank you so much for sharing your story & happy selling!

In 2011, I started to get my home ready to sell. I had lived there 30 years and some of the wall-coverings i’d put on back in ’81 and anyone who knew anything about wall-coverings could see it was done by amatures. Plus after 30 years it looked very worn. I used a couple of books from the library on home-staging. Then I cleared the house of clutter and extra furniture. I spent about $10,000 on wall and floor coverings. Finally near a year ago I was ready to put my home on the market. Within 3 weeks I got a cash offer for about 97% of my asking price, which was enough to cover the “staging” costs. I took it. So yeah, I’m a believer in home staging.

Wow this is a really great read Amy! Thanks for sharing your experience and perspective! I never really thought about it in the terms of a conversion but it is so true. The right stager can also make all the difference…glad you found a great one.